From left to right: former state Sen. Ted Harvey, his wife, Janie Harvey; Steve House, candidate for GOP party chairman and House’s wife, Donna, at a reception for House Friday night at the Inverness Hotel. (Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)

GOP chairman Ryan Call.

Supporters of Steve House, who is trying to unseat Ryan Call as chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, wined and dined Friday night at the Inverness Hotel, with many expressing confidence in the outcome of Saturday’s election.

Some of those at the event were die-hard House fans, including Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, the highest-ranking elected Republican to back House. Others were Republicans who went between the party for House and, at the same hotel, a fundraiser/reception for the Colorado GOP before the party’s Centennial Dinner.

House is running a strong challenge, but he has his work cut out for him, as evidenced by the praise for Call at the dinner from U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner and Senate President Bill Cadman.

Former House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, a Republican, and House Speaker Pro Tem Dan Pabon, a Democrat, a reception for Stephens, who has joined the McKenna, Long & Aldridge law firm as its government affairs director. (Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)

The Colorado attorney general, a former House speaker and a rookie newspaper editor were among those who showed up this week at a reception for former House Majority Leaders Amy Stephens, who is heading the state government affairs office for a prominent Denver law firm.

Newly sworn in Attorney General Cynthia Coffman congratulated McKenna Long & Aldridge on their new hire, saying she wished she had figured out first a way to hire Stephens in her office. Coffman and Stephens are Republicans; members of McKenna include Democrats Dave Fine, a former Denver city attorney, and Lino Lipinsky, husband of U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette.

“Your firm has risen in stature just overnight, among Republicans especially,” Coffman said to laughter. “Before long, your offices will be pink, and there will be a sign that says ‘Keep calm on and carry on’ and you will wonder what hit you but you know it will be great.”

Attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman makes her pitch to delegates at the GOP state assembly in Boulder April 12. She was sworn in as AG in January. (Coffman campaign)

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, known as an immigration firebrand, has urged Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman to join 26 states in suing the federal government over President Obama’s “unconstitutional amnesty” program.

Tancredo also reminded Coffman, who took office in January, that she is the only Republican attorney general who has not joined the lawsuit and it does “not make sense for Colorado to remain on the sidelines.”

Tom Tancredo. (AP)

Tancredo on Thursday provided The Denver Post a copy of his letter, which is to be printed Friday in the Colorado Statesman. The Post asked Coffman to respond.

“In scolding me for ‘being a bad Republican by not following the lead of other Republicans,’ Mr. Tancredo has violated Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican,'” Coffman said. “I find that rather ironic. While he is playing politics, I am fulfilling my commitment to provide Coloradans with the best possible legal counsel.”

Tancredo said in the letter that the lawsuit is even more critical now that when it was filed in December because “Republicans in Congress failed to halt funding for the implementation of the amnesty program in the Department of Homeland Security.”

Colorado’s new attorney general Cynthia Coffman, left, shakes hands with Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy E. Rice after Coffman took the oath of office during an inauguration ceremony on the west steps of the Colorado state Capitol Jan. 13. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Republican Cynthia Coffman took the oath of office Tuesday and become Colorado’s next attorney general in a ceremony her husband viewed by looking at pictures sent to his congressional office in Washington.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, spent the day voting, listening to an immigration debate and doing other congressional stuff.

“He was very proud to see Cynthia inaugurated for a job she’s incredibly well qualified for,” said the congressman’s spokesman, Tyler Sandberg.

State Rep. Tim Dore, right, and his wife, Kelly, now an Elbert County commissioner, with their four children, left to right, Andrew, Aiden, Alyssa and Jack. (Photo from Tim Dore)

State Rep. Tim Dore missed out on Tuesday’s inaugural ceremonies, but the Elizabeth Republican had a good reason: he was watching his wife Kelly getting sworn in as an Elbert County commissioner.

Otherwise, Dore joked, he would have been at the inaugural with “bells and whistles on” to watch Democrats John Hickenlooper and Joe Garcia take the oaths of office for governor and lieutenant governor.

State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, left, his family and Senate President Bill Cadman, right, laugh as Stapleton correctly states his middle initial while taking the oath of office Tuesday on the west steps of state Capitol in Denver. (Channel 2 KWGN)

State Treasurer Walker Stapleton is jokingly referring to himself as the Rodney Dangerfield of Colorado inaugurations after today’s activities.

The official program for the inaugural event listed Stapleton as secretary of state and Wayne Williams as the state treasurer. It’s the other way around.

And when Chief Justice Nancy Rice asked Stapleton to take the oath, she said, “Repeat after me. I, Walker P. Stapleton,” to which the treasurer said, “I Walker R. Stapleton.” That got a big laugh. (The R, BTW, is for Roberts. Maybe Rice was thinking of PERA when she said P.)

In 2011, Janessa Martinez, 8, Delaney Stout, 8, Julian Gasadosrueda, 7 and Ariel Caprioglia, 8, all of Fountain International Magnet School in Pueblo used flannel blankets to stay warm as they awaited the inauguration ceremonies of Colorado’s newest governor, Democrat John Hickenlooper. It was around 10 degrees. Their class won the Colorado Can Do contest and were able to attend the inauguration. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post )

Once again, Democrat John Hickenlooper probably should wear gloves when he raises his right hand to take the oath of governor.

The temperature at 11 a.m., when inaugural ceremonies begin on the west steps of the Capitol, is expected to be 31 degrees. That’s practically a heat wave compared to four years ago when Hickenlooper was sworn in for his first term.

“Four years ago we started out at 0 degrees and it got up to 9 degrees so this is lovely,” said Doug Lane with Fastland Productions, the company that has provided sound equipment and service for six inaugurations in a row.

It’s been a wild year for Tyler Sandberg, who managed Mike Coffman’s successful re-election bid and got engaged to a woman he met on the campaign trail.

Next year promises to to be just as interesting. Sandberg is moving to Washington, D.C., to serve as deputy chief of staff for Coffman, an Aurora Republican whose margin of victory blindsided Democrats. And he and Kelsie Hower are to be married on July 4 in Colorado Springs. He proposed in Bali, where the couple vacationed after the election.

Sandberg announced the news in an e-mail titled: “A match made in #COpolitics heaven.” “Proposed to Kelsie last night in Bali at a private candlelit villa overlooking the jungle. She said yes!”

Reporters who regularly interviewed Sandberg for the campaign joked about whether Hower understood the proposal. That’s because he talks so fast at times he sounds like a tape recording on fast forward. “Kelsie has learned to speak Sandberg,” was his response.

Hower, who works for The Starboard Group, served as Cynthia Coffman’s finance director in her successful race for attorney general. It was natural that Hower and Sandberg would meet; Mike and Cynthia Coffman are married to each other.

Hower also is moving to D.C. and will operate out of Starboard’s office there. The couple leaves for Washington on Tuesday.

Secretary of state: Democrat Joe Neguse won more counties than any of the other down-ballot Democrats. He won Adams and Arapahoe counties by higher margins than Mark Udall, Andrew Romanoff, Don Quick and Betsy Markey. Neguse lost to Republican Wayne Williams by 2.57 percentage points.

Attorney general: Quick lost to Republican Cynthia Coffman in Adams County, 45 percent to 48 percent, where Quick used to serve as the district attorney. Quick upset members of his own party by targeting corruption when he was the DA. Statewide, he lost to Coffman by 9.3 percentage points.

State treasurer: Republican incumbent Walker Stapleton beat Markey, a former congresswoman, on her home turf. Stapleton won 49 percent of the vote to Markey’s 46 percent of the vote in Larimer County. Overall, he won by 5.1 percentage points.

3rd Congressional District: Former state Sen. Abel Tapia, a Pueblo Democrat who during his years on the Joint Budget Committee worked to bring home bacon to Pueblo County, didn’t carry Pueblo County in the 3rd CD race. The incumbent, Republican Scott Tipton, won Pueblo 48 percent to 45 percent and beat Tapia overall by 22 percentage points.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.